"MoveSecurityAttributes" registry subkey does not work in Windows 7, in Windows Vista, in Windows Server 2008 or in Windows Server 2008 R2

  • Article

KB Article: https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2617058

INTRODUCTION

Consider the following scenario:

  • You have a computer that is running one of the following operating systems:

    • Windows Vista
    • Windows Server 2008
    • Windows 7
    • Windows Server 2008 R2

  • You configure the value of the MoveSecurityAttributes registry subkey to 0 on the computer.

    Note You can configure the MoveSecurityAttributes registry subkey in the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerMoveSecurityAttributes

  • You move a folder from one location into a folder in another location on the same NTFS volume.

In this scenario, the folder and all files in it may contain some Access Control Entries (ACEs) associated with the previous location. After you perform the previous steps, the expected result is that the folder and all files in it only contain the ACEs associated with the new location. This behavior is known as "Copy File Semantics" and is enabled in Windows Server 2003 by using the previously mentioned registry subkey.